Saturday, June 4, 2011

The U.S. Postal Service apparently has a larger share of employees who are over 50 than any Fortune 500 company, a new study indicates.

American Airlines leads the big companies, with a workforce that is 39.1% over 50, estimates the RetirementJobs.com study, based on public records.

The number of postal workers over 50 does not seem to be publicly available, but the data that are available suggests USPS has the private sector beat in the older-worker category.

"The average age of postal employees is 53," Patrick Donahoe, who is now the Postmaster General, told Bloomberg Businessweek last year.

That doesn't mean that 50% of USPS employees are 53 or older. A more meaningful statistic would be the median age (brush off your high school math textbooks, folks), but the Postal Service doesn't seem to have released that number.

Another clue to the age of postal workers is this statement from the Postal Service's 2010 Action Plan for the Future: "Over the next 10 years, over 300,000 employees — more than half the current workforce — will be eligible to retire." That indicates that well over 50% of USPS employees are over 45.

And the numbers certainly show that the postal workforce has far more older workers than the Fortune 500 as a whole, where the average of over-50 employees is 25.6%.

"It is important to remember that at this point we do not have information on whether or not these employers have committed to hiring older workers, we simply know that they do or do not tend to already employ older workers — either through new hires or retaining existing employees as they age," RetirementJobs.com says.

Many of the companies that rank high on the list, according to U.S. News & World Report, have "a strong union presence" and have gone through significant downsizing -- just like the Postal Service. "When they have had layoffs and they use seniority as the basis for that, it will appear that they have a preference for older workers," said Barry Bluestone, a Northeastern University political economy professor, in the article.

Downsizing through attrition -- mostly from retirements -- is a major part of the Postal Service's strategy to reduce costs in light of declining mail volumes.

14 comments:

Anonymous
said...

You might want to consider the fact that the USPS has not had a layoff of craft employees. The older work foarce in the USPS has been with the USPS for the most part 25 to 35 years. These people are dedicated to their jobs and employer. The point made by the PMG also means that the 300,000 that will retire over the next ten years has the time with the USPS to qualify for retirement. Does this make sense or are you now just trying to attack the older, people in this org.

Notice that the postal service operated in the black when this older generation was employed. Today, with the younger generation in control, they are operating in the red, and sinking fast. With this younger generation, it's not what they can for the company and it's customers. It's about getting paid more and doing less. It's about the company owing them the job.

Hey... Veterans preference does NOT mean you are a "retired " veteran...thus .... most individuals hired by the post office (and many other government organizations such as police or fire departments) are being hired in their 20's ....not at the age of 40.

The P.O. can't discriminate based on age when hiring. I'll never forget when they hired a 72 yr. old as a career carrier. What galled me the most about this was 1) this man was a retired exec. and already collecting a decent pension. 2) had the audacity to think this job was nothing more than a walk in the sunshine. 3) took a career position from a much younger man or woman with a young family and new mortgage. This idiot made it through his first 30 day probation period, but quit within the first week of his second, he literally threw a white hanky on the supes. desk and said "I give up". Common sense needs to be applied to age when hiring for a physically demanding job, discrimination or not. This happened 10 years ago and this man still galls me to this day!!!!

Veteran's preference means that you get 5 or 10 extra points on the postal exam. If you score low enough you still may not have been hired. Veteran's preference doesn't guarantee you a job. I was hired at 28 with veteran's preference, only served 2 years on active duty.

A lot of retired military comes into the PO, starting their postal careers in their 40's. They allow these folks to work into their well into their 80's and 90's, when there is NO WAY that they are as productive as they should be. IT's not loyalty, it's greed.

When we hear what the Ryan conservatives in congress say about taking away medicare for those under the age of 55 and the present/future people on medicare will now pay a larger bill for their prescription drugs because of a proposed opening of the now closed donut hole -- the average age will continue to rise for current postal workers. Who can afford to retire?

I've been on the gravy train since the late 60's with military and then postal employment. Why would I give that all up to retire. I'm already retired on the job! Fat Pat can keep sending me my check while he figures out how to get rid of all of us. Come big or stay home!

These old guys in civil service won't leave until they reach 41 years 11 months. The way to get them out is to go to a "high 5" versus "high 3". I talked to them and they said they would lose 2-3k a year and would get out before a "high 5" was actually instituted. The good older workers usually get injuries or wear out.The ones that stay forever usually are the ones on the gravy train.

15 years of BS. Now I have a bad hip and back. Crushed toe. Arthritis in fingers and everywhere else. Gray hairs and many wrinkles too early. Dry skin and lots of stress. Great job management. I am glad you can sleep at night knowing how many people you have killed.Don't forget about the carriers who committed suicide due to your harassment. Great job! THANKS UNION.

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